Strawberry Bubblegum
by TheOnlyMeThereIs
Summary: "Welcome back, Nagisa-chan." All Tamao is left with at the end of the series is a broken friendship with the girl she loves. What will happen to them now? Can their bond be repaired? This follows some of the charcaters, (mostly Tamao and Nagisa,) after the Etoile election. Pairings to be decided later. Please R and R:)
1. Chapter 1-Broken

**Okay, this is my first Strawberry Panic fic, so thanks for reading:D**

**I do not own Strawberry Panic or any of it's characters... enjoy:)**

* * *

_"Nagisa! I love you!"_

_Tamao's hand fell from her chest to hang limply at her side. She shut her eyes to staunch the flow of tears threatening to overwhelm her, feeling, as she did so, her throat constrict due to the effort of restraining her emotions._

_"Nagisa!" Shizuma shouted again, throwing her whole body forward towards the stage._

_"But… but…" Nagisa stammered, shaking her head and trying to understand. She too was fighting the overwhelming urge to cry._

_Tamao, seeing her friend's obvious distress, wrapped her arm around Nagisa's waist and pulled her closer._

_"She really couldn't help it." Tamao whispered in Nagisa's ear._

_"Tamao-chan?" It seemed to Nagisa that she was she only one still confused as to what was happening._

_Tamao smiled sadly. "Go, Nagisa-chan."_

_Then, simultaneously, she pulled both ribbons, red and green, from her best friend's hair and pushed her away, towards Shizuma._

_"Tamao-chan…" Nagisa hesitated._

_All Tamao could do was nod sadly. Her eyes swimming with tears, Nagisa turned away from Tamao and ran towards Shizuma._

_"Shizuma-sama!" She cried, leaping into the older girl's arms._

_"Let's go." Shizuma whispered, "We're going."_

_Then they ran. They ran out of the hall and away. Away together._

_Tamao blinked slowly, squeezing the long-oppressed tears through her thick eyelashes._

_"Congratulations Nagisa-chan… congratulations…"_

* * *

**Tamao**

We stood for at least ten minutes on either side of the door: me on one side knowing that she was on the other; Nagisa on the outside aware that I was on the in. Although there was only one sheet of wood between us, I felt a million miles away from Nagisa. The friendship I had so carefully tended over the past year had been splintered by _her._

Shizuma had driven a wedge between us- despite my efforts to draw us closer. _Was this it for us? Was our friendship beyond repair?_

_I should say something… but what?_

"Welcome back, Nagisa-chan." I whispered…

**Nagisa**

The corridor in which I was stood blurred into a kaleidoscope of dull browns. I had heard her whisper, and knew she was waiting for a reply, but I could not bring myself to answer her. Even if I knew what to say, my throat felt like it was made of sandpaper, and had closed so both sides were rasping against each other. In the end I merely stood in silence as one solitary tear rolled slowly down my face.

_I had to do it. I just had to walk through that door and then…_

"Nagisa-chan?" I heard her murmur.

I stepped away from the door, still facing the wall opposite and heard the click as she pulled down the handle.

"Tamao-chan…" I breathed.

**Tamao**

She was still wearing the red dress she had left me in three hours ago, although now it was considerably dirtier, with a streak of mud running along the back. It made me wonder what she and Shizuma had been doing, but I instantly banished the distasteful thought from my mind.

I heard her murmur my name, and it brought back a waterfall of previously settled tears. I mentally begged her to turn around and come inside, just smile like nothing had happened and laugh together as we used to. But that was before the election. That was before _she _had come between us.

"Nagisa…"

She flinched. The movement was only slight, but I still caught it. She had flinched at my voice.

"Please, come inside, Nagisa."

All I wanted right now was for her to come into the room. Even if she did not speak, I needed her near me or I knew I wouldn't sleep. After what felt like an hour, she took a deep breath and turned around. Her eyelashes sparkled with the remains of spilled tears, and her cheeks were streaked with moisture. She smiled, but it did not reach her eyes like it usually did. She didn't even look at me.

Then, slowly but surely, she entered our room, and I shut the door behind her. A few seconds more we stood apart, her facing into the room, and I stood facing the door.

_Who would speak first?_

**Nagisa**

_Why had Tamao-chan acted so strange earlier?_

I knew the answer but did not want to admit it to myself. In fact, I think I had known for a while now, ever since she had agreed to enter the Etoile election. The truth was, I did not want this to get in the way of our friendship, but surely there was no glue strong enough to fix this damage? Nevertheless, I had to try. If there was any way to repair our broken bond, it would require both of us to try.

"Tamao-chan, I…"

I hesitated. _Really, what could I say? That I was sorry? But I wasn't. That I didn't mean for this to happen? But there was no regret in my heart._

The awful truth was- there was nothing I _could _say.

"Ssh. I know."

Those two words. They summed up everything beautifully.

"Tamao-chan." I whispered, turning to look at her for the first time.

She turned away from the door and met my eyes. I smiled awkwardly, and she smiled back, although I noticed that her eyes remained dull and broken.

Just like our friendship.

* * *

_Quick little note:) When I watched Strawberry Panic, the character that immediately stood out to me was, of course, Nagisa, but over time, it was Tamao who I found I could really relate to. By about the time we find out about Shizuma and Kaori, I felt sure that Nagisa and Tamao were destined to be together, probably as Etoile as well._

_However, the final episode not only killed my dream of TamaoXNagisa, it also left the two friends in an awkward situation with nothiong but a broken friendship! Fair enough, let Nagisa and Shizuma be happy, but why does Tamao have to suffer so much?! Hence I decided to write this story..._

I also pitied Yaya; she is in pretty much the same position as Tamao, although she does have Tsubomi in the end. I think it's fair to say that, since throughout the entire series Tamao has the worst of everybody, she deserves some happiness in the end, and I have decided to give her some through writing this:)


	2. Chapter 2-Etoile

Amane pulled gently on the reins and slowed her horse to a trot. He had been running for over an hour now, and desperately needed a rest. She guided him over to the side of the ring and dismounted next to Hikari.

"Amane-senpai!" Hikari gasped, "You were amazing!"

Amane merely smiled and leaned over the fence to kiss Hikari on the cheek.

"When is the meeting today?" She asked Hikari.

"Umm… not until two this afternoon I think. We have hours to wait."

"I see…" Amane paused, "In that case, how would you like to go for a picnic with me? Just into the woods by the lake, I doubt we'll have much time to do things like that now we are Etoile, and the weather is beautiful today."

"Oh, Amane-sama! I would love to but I sort of, umm… I promised Yaya-chan that I would help her revise for her exam…" Hikari looked sadly down at the floor.

"Oh… right, well you can't really cancel on Yaya-chan I suppose… never mind Hikari-chan, we'll do it another time." Amane smiled, but it was clear she was disappointed.

"I'm sorry Amane-sama, I can let her down if you really want me to...?"

Hikari looked up questioningly at the girl she loved, but Amane shook her head.

"As much as I want you to, I couldn't ask you to do that. Yaya-chan is your closest friend after all."

Hikari nodded slowly.

"Well, I'll pick you up from your dorm before two for the meeting, Hikari; we can't be late."

With that, Amane mounted her horse again and rode slowly to the middle of the ring to continue practicing. Just as she neared the centre however, she glanced behind her, hoping to peek at Hikari one last time, but the girl had gone.

* * *

_Amane-sama looked so disappointed when I turned her down!_ Hikari thought guiltily as she made her way back to her dorm. _Is there any way I can excuse myself from the revision session? I don't want to let Amane-sama down, but that means letting Yaya-chan down!_

So engrossed in her thoughts was Hikari that she was barely watching where she was going, and almost bumped into Nagisa!

"Hikari-chan!" Nagisa squealed, "Careful!"

"Oh! Nagisa-chan! I'm sorry! I wasn't watching were I was-"

"Never mind! It doesn't matter!" Nagisa cut her off. "So where are you going right now? To meet Amane-senpai?"

"No, to help Yaya-chan revise. I promised I'd test her on her French today."

"Oh, I just passed Tsubomi-chan going to do the exact same thing. She muttered something about you not being very good at French so she thought she should help..?" Nagisa trailed off, trying to remember exactly what had been said. But Hikari was not interested in that.

"You say Tsubomi-chan's going too?" She asked excitedly.

"Um, yeah, I think so anyway."

"Thanks Nagisa-chan!" Hikari chirped, speeding away down the corridor

"Erm, anytime Hikari-chan…" Nagisa shouted after her.

* * *

"Yaya-chan!" Hikari burst through the door of the dorm they shared.

"Hikari-chan, you're early!" Yaya smiled back at her.

"Oh, Hikari-senpai…" Tsubomi muttered.

"Yaya-chan, I'm really sorry, but Amane-sama's asked me to a picnic with her this lunch time, and I don't want to turn her down, but I said I would revise with you and then Nagisa-chan said Tsubomi-chan was here and I thought that… maybe…" Hikari's

"You could go out with Amane-senpai?" Yaya finished the sentence for her.

"If- if that's okay with the both of you… yes."

"Yes, of course Hikari-chan. You go with Amane-senpai and we'll be fine here." Tsubomi said quickly.

"Yaya-chan?" Hikari asked hopefully.

"Um, yeah, go for it Hikari. I have Tsubomi-chan here after all." Yaya said, although she did not look at Hikari as she said it.

Hikari however, did not seem to notice this, or if she did she ignored it.

"Thanks Yaya-chan!" She beamed, before running back to Amane to tell her the good news.

"You still love her, don't you Yaya-senpai?" Tsubomi asked quietly when Hikari had gone.

Yaya hesitated, before nodding sadly.

"You should just forget about her, she clearly only wants to be with Amane-senpai!" Tsubomi said exasperatingly.

"I know that! Don't you think I know that by now?" Yaya snapped, "Until you love someone you won't know how it feels!"

"I do know." Tsubomi muttered under her breath.

"What?"

"I do know!" She repeated, "I know exactly how it feels to love someone who is in love with someone else!"

Yaya instantly softened.

"Who do you love, Tsubomi-chan?" She teased lightly.

"No-one. It doesn't matter." Tsubomi replied sulkily.

Yaya sighed. "Well you know, I can't help you of you won't tell me."

_If I told you, you wouldn't want to be around me. _Tsubomi thought sadly. _I won't make the same mistake you did Yaya-chan. Luckily for you, Hikari-chan is a forgiving person, but I feel you might be different…_

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**Thanks for reading another chapter, I hope you liked it:) You can probably see where I'm going with the parings on the Spica girls, but I haven't decided the Miator ones yet. Anyway, review please, I will update faster if you do:D**


	3. Chapter 3-Bubblegum

"Shizuma! Please be reasonable! We graduate in a few days and this problem is still not sorted!"

Miyuki had been trying to reason with Shizuma almost and hour now, but had not succeeded in even getting a half-decent reply out of the irresponsible girl.

"Miyuki, please. This has nothing to do with me, and you know it! I will leave Miator soon, and I want to spend every last waking minute of my remaining time here with Nagisa-chan!"

Miyuki sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll handle this alone."

With that, she stormed out of the room she and Shizuma shared and down the corridor to Tamao's room.

* * *

"Yes? Come in." Tamao called at the sound of a knock on the door.

Miyuki entered and closed the door behind her. The blue-haired girl was sat at her desk, writing, and barely even glanced up to see who was in her room.

"Tamao-san. I need to speak to you and Nagisa-san. It's important- if you could meet me in the student council meeting room in about half an hour?"

Um, yeah, okay. I don't know where Nagisa-chan is though…" Tamao replied hesitantly.

"Well you'll have to find her then! Although I have a feeling I know who she's with." Miyuki replied impatiently. "I'll see you there."

Tamao sighed and out down her pen. She had been in the middle of writing her latest piece for the literature club, and had been on a roll. _Well, it can't be helped. _She thought, resigned. _Miyuki wouldn't ask if it weren't urgent so…_

She stood, and hurried out of the room to try and find Nagisa. It wasn't hard; as expected, she had been on her way to Shizuma's room when Tamao had found her and dragged her in the opposite direction.

"Tamao-chan! I can't just stand her up without even letting her know!" Nagisa cried indignantly.

"We'll send someone to tell her then, this is important!"

Shortly after, they passed Kagome, and Nagisa sent her to inform Shizuma of the reason she hadn't shown up.

"...and tell her I'll make it up to her when I see her!" Nagisa shouted after the retreating back of the shy first-year.

Within seconds, the two girls were at the meeting room, and were sitting down with the student council at the long, thin table.

_This had better be quick! _Nagisa thought, _I can't stand to be away from Shizuma for even an hour, especially when she graduates in five days!_

"As you may know, I will be graduating in a few days." Miyuki started, eyeing both Tamao and Nagisa coolly.

They nodded.

"As will my two vice presidents." She paused. "This leaves three openings for new students to fill."

Both Tamao and Nagisa sat up a little straighter in their chairs.

"And it has been decided that you two will fill two of these positions."

"Me and… Tamao-chan?" Nagisa asked, surprised.

"Yes, you are both bright, reliable girls, and have the love and trust of your peers."

Thank you, Miyuki-senpai!" Tamao blushed, "We won't let you down!"

Nagisa nodded eagerly to show her agreement.

"The only problem now is: who will be president, and who will be vice? The position for the second vice president has been filled already. You will be working with a girl named Sakuri Konoha, and she will be both your secretary and your treasurer."

"Hai, Miyuki-senpai," Tamao smiled, "And if I may be so bold, why not let the students of Miator decide who should be president? They could vote over three days, and at the end of that three days, it would be decided."

"Hmm… a vote?" Miyuki pondered. She looked to her vice presidents, who both nodded happily. "Okay then, it's decided. Your peers will vote for whom they want as president, and the other will become vice president. But I think it would be wise to set a reasonable boundary for the number of votes that will…"

Nagisa tuned out. Miyuki was waffling on about fair voting and what measures they would have to take, when all Nagisa really wanted was to be with Shizuma.

"…so that concludes our meeting for today. The next time we'll meet will be in three days time when the votes have been counted. Good luck girls!"

Miyuki stood up, and the two vice presidents followed suit. Tamao and Nagisa copied the actions of the three older girls, before following them out of the room and heading the other way.

"So… president eh?" Tamao tried nervously to make conversation.

"Yeah… I'm not too bothered if it's you though Tamao-chan, you'd be much better than I would!" Nagisa smiled back.

Truthfully, the two girls hadn't been the same since the fateful day of the Etoile election, but since then, a small broken fragment of their previous friendship had been restored. It was at least bearable to be in the same dorm again, although conversations were usually awkward and polite.

"Don't be silly, Nagisa-chan! If it's down to voting, you're much more liked than I am, and you'll be sure to win! And anyway, if you do, I'll be happy for you; I have got the literature club to run next year as well so…"

Nagisa smiled, but her eyes remained dull. Truthfully, she was not sure whether she even wanted to be president, especially if it meant another election. Tamao would be much better suited to the job, and who would vote for her anyway?

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**Thanks for reading another chapter, and thanks to those who have reviewed:) sorry I didn't update in a while, I've got a lot happening at the moment- I'll try and be quicker with the next one. Anyway, please review:D**


	4. Chapter 4-The Votes Are In!

"Nagisa, Tamao, please, take a seat." Miyuki gestured to the two empty seats opposite her.

The nervous girls sat down and waited to hear the verdict. It had been two days since they had last spoken to Miyuki, and two days since they and found out they were to become vice and president. Since then, the whole of Miator had been involved in an election to determine which of the would become vice, and which would be the president.

"I should get straight to the point," Miyuki began, "It is our last day here, and I'm sure you would much rather be with Shizuma right now, Nagisa. That said, there are still a few things we need to discuss."

She withdrew, from a little package on the table, two badges, both green in colour and bearing the Miator emblem.

"The votes have been counted, but there is a problem. In order to win the election, the winner would have had to win by a minimum of twenty votes, to ensure a fair win. The problem is, the girl with the majority of the votes only won by eight. This means there was no winner; it was a draw."

Nagisa glanced, surprised, at Tamao, who bit her lip nervously.

"In order to solve this problem, we, the student council, have decided to elect the next president ourselves. It has been decided that you both will take on the roles and responsibilities of President of The Student Council for Miator! At first we were unsure whether his would actually work, but as the two in question are you, Nagisa, Tamao, I am sure you will find a way to work it out. And so, without further ado, here are your badges."

She handed them the green badges and sat back in her chair.

"S-so we're both president?" Tamao stuttered, eyes wide with shock.

"Correct. I have yet to inform Sakuri Konoha, but she's a reasonable girl, I'm sure she'll understand. Later today, you will also announce your positions in the end of year assembly. Nagisa, I understand you are staying here, in Miator, for the second half of the holidays due to your circumstances? That will, I am sure, give you plenty of time to adjust yourself to the position of president before the start of the new school year."

"B-but…" Nagisa stuttered.

Her parents were only back in Japan for a half of the holiday- after that they went away again, and Nagisa had been planning to spend the remainder of the holidays with Shizuma.

"I'm sorry, Nagisa, but I have a lot to do! If you don't have any questions we'll end this here, and I will see you five minutes early for the assembly."

Nagisa nodded, and she and Tamao left the room silently.

"Well… this is going to be different…" Nagisa muttered to Tamao when they left the room.

"Yeah… I don't really see how this is going to work, if I'm honest." Tamao whispered back.

"And about that thing in the holidays, well I don't know what she expect me to-"

"Nagisa, about that… I was wondering, do you… maybe, want me to come back a week early to keep you company? I mean, it will give us a week to get things sorted ready for the new year...?"

Nagisa hesitated. She had been about to say that it was ridiculous to expect her to work during the holidays, and that she fully intended to stay at Shizuma's until the first day back, but there was no way she could reject her old friend in such a harsh way now.

"Uh, yeah, if you want… maybe only a few days towards the end though? I wouldn't want you missing your holiday and-" Nagisa stammered unsurely.

"Of course not Nagisa! I hate how much we've drifted- I'll be sure to be back here a week early, anything for my old friend, eh?" Tamao smiled warmly at Nagisa, whose heart tore into two sides.

On one hand, she also hated what had become of the friendship the two had shared, and had stayed awake for a few nights now simply watching Tamao and wondering how they could possibly become close again. But on the other, Nagisa would much rather be with her love than her friend- especially since they couldn't even be classed as best friends anymore. All they were now were two girls sharing a room. Two girls with a bitter past sharing a room. Two girls and a broken bond…

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**Short chapter, not much happened, sorry about that:( Also, sorry I haven't been updating- I've had so much on, it's unreal! Anyway, thanks for reading, please review, and sorry if I don't update for a while, this is really not very high on my priority list, and I'm seriously not feeling this story atm...**


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